The Man and the Myth
by Jet556
Summary: Across the universe there are many myths. In the Depths, there is the enduring myth of Emperor Roman the Sea King and his battles against the Leviathan. Both have been dead for many centuries but now the latter has returned and the Depths are now once more under terror and there is no Roman to fight the Leviathan.
1. The Myth

**Welcome everyone. This story is set during Season 2 and features the characters introduced in "The Depths." Enjoy and review.**

 **The Myth**

Myth… Legend… Tale… Story… Fable… Saga… Mythos… Lore… Folklore… Mythology… Whatever you choose to call, it is something universal. No matter where you go in the world, where you go in the universe it seems there are new myths to be found.

The denizens of the Depths had their own mythology. One such figure was Emperor Roman the Sea King, a heroic god king. A god king was a deified ruler or euhemerized pagan deity. On earth such god kings included the Pharaohs, Odin and many pagan sacred kings.

According to legend, Roman was not a person of the Mer. He had legs but what made him different from any four limbed humanoid were his webbed hands and fingers. He was a large, blue skinned humanoid who stood at a height of six feet and two inches and had a very muscular physique. He had brown hair, blue skin, black eyes with no visible pupils or iris, pointed ears and wings on his ankles. With long hair and both beard and mustache upon his face, Roman looked somewhat barbaric. In addition to the hair, mustache and beard his barbaric appearance was added to by his wearing of a gladiatorial manica on his right arm, chest plate and the wielding of a trident. He had lost his left hand in some battle and had it replaced with a prosthetic hand made of water. His golden helmet and trousers that were deep sea blue with a camouflage pattern seemed positively civilized in comparison to the rest of him. He could fly he had the strength of a thousand and could speak the language of the sea beasts.

Roman had one archenemy. The Leviathan was of all sea beasts the greatest danger to the denizens of the Depths. Roman and the Leviathan had not been seen for centuries, the former having sacrificed himself to defeat the latter and never more had the Leviathan terrorized the Depths.

And then the Leviathan returned.


	2. The Man

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 **The Man**

Roman was dead. There was no other way to say it but with the cold hard fact. He had given his life to put an end to the Leviathan. In an undersea alp did his body reside and it was here that four people of the Mer came.

Queen Luxia, Plaxum, Swirn and Blumfump all swam towards the great sarcophagus inside the cavern at the top of the alp. They were all silent, wondering if Roman would truly return to life as the Leviathan had.

"He's been dead for longer than any of us have been alive." Said Blumflump. "There is nothing in there but a skeleton."

"Or some grave robber snatched it and auctioned it off." Suggested Swirn.

"No, he's in there!" exclaimed Plaxum. "I believe he is! Just as the stories say!"

"The stories are just myths" dismissed Swirn.

"No, the founder of our kingdom is in there!" countered Plaxum. "He is waiting for us to release him for what remains of his mighty empire is in danger from his archenemy!"

"That is enough!" exclaimed Luxia. "Let us release him!"

The four lifted the sarcophagus and instead of finding an empty thing or a skeleton they found a body that looked like Roman had died yesterday. Blumflump and Swirn couldn't believe it.

"It is as if he could have just died." Commented Swirn.

"What do we?" asked Blumflump.

"The stories didn't go into any detail about what follows." Admitted Plaxum. Indeed they did not. They just said one must come to him and release him."

"Maybe that is the problem." Suggested Blumflump. "Four of us came."

And then the black eyes of Roman opened. The Sea King sat up and looked at the people of the Mer. "Why have you come? Does the Leviathan live once more?" His voice was deep, gruff and commanding.

"It does." Stated Luxia. She put her hands together. "Please, help us."


	3. Roman

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 **Roman**

Everyone had heard stories of him. Now that they actually saw him they had some difficulty believing he was actually there. Each individual there had an image of Roman in their own head and what they saw before them was not it.

Plaxum had imagined a bold, scraggy bewhiskered beast. Roman did not look bestial no was his beard scraggy but seemed to be neatly groomed.

Queen Luxia had imagined a clean-cut hero. He quite obviously had the beard as the myth stated.

Swirn had imagined a stark humanoid composed of water. Aside from the left hand, he was not made of water.

Blumfump however never really knew what to describe his imagining of Roman. He had heard so many things that putting into words what he saw in his head would be impossible. Roman on the other hand, was something possible of being described.

At the end of the day, Roman looked as he did in the myths and legends told of him. He did not know the four before him personally, only that they had come to him because the Leviathan had returned to life.

"How did the Leviathan come to revive?" asked Roman.

"We do not know." Replied Luxia. "What we do know is that it is alive and terrorizing the depths once more.

"That information is enough." Stated Roman. "Now I must go to battle."


	4. Battle Begins Anew

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 **Battle Begins Anew**

Roman's black eyes looked upon the Leviathan. To the eyes of one from earth, it would have looked like a monstrous cross between a crocodilian and an anglerfish. To Roman and the merpeople, it was a nothing but a monster.

Looking upon the Leviathan, Roman's mind flashed back to long ago. His mind flashed before the founding of the Galra Empire and before the Alteans had risen to civilization. His mind flashed back to when he first encountered the Leviathan.

Not yet an emperor, not even someone with a name and just someone without any idea what they were. He was what he was: an outcast, a freak. When he had ascended to become something great who was the freak then? Still him. He looked so much different than all of hi subjects. He remembered the words he would hear spoken about him.

"What is he?"

"Why should he be leader?"

"He isn't one of us!"

But yet there were always there to counter suck questions.

"He is our leader."

"Because you were running scared when the monsters attacked."

"He is our brother in heart and that is more important than being our brother in blood."

Gripping his trident, Roman gave a smile. He was back. He had returned. And this time the enemies of the Depths be they old or new would know his fury for he was Emperor Roman the Sea King! He was a hero! He was made of the stuff of legends!

The battle between Roman and the Leviathan began anew that day. It was the return of a golden age! An age ushered in by the return of Voltron: the Age of Heroes.

 **The End**


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